Summer of '09
by writerchic16
Summary: Lilly stays with her old friend from camp, Alex, while Miley judges a reality competition in Manhattan. Will Lilly give in to the temptation of a relationship with Justin, when she's on a break with Oliver? Lilly/Justin, Loliver, Alex/Jake, Jiley
1. Chapter 1

**Summer of '09**

Summary: Lily stays with her old best friend from camp, Alex, while Miley judges a reality competition in New York City. Will she give in to the temptation of a relationship with Justin, when she's on a break with Oliver? Lily/Justin, Loliver, Jiley

A/N: This is a little different from anything I've done before. I'm really not one for romance, but for some reason I love both Justin/Lily and Lily/Oliver, go figure. Basically, this is one of my very first attempts at a chaptered fic that actually has a prominent romance plotline. Also, while I have written for both shows before, I'm still a little shaky with the characterization. So please tell me how I'm doing, I can use all the criticism I can get. Thanks for reading!

This story takes place after the HM trio end their junior year. Lily and Oliver got together. But, it takes place before HM the movie.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_**Malibu**_

_**Monday, 1:30 a.m.**_

Eleven. That was how many bottles of nail polish there were on Miley Stewart's vanity table. There were also fifteen ponytail holders, six tubes of lipstick, and one hair brush.

Seven pictures were stuck in the sides of the mirror on top of the vanity, but even though Lily Truscott was bored and couldn't sleep, she didn't dare examine them. They might be pictures of Oliver.

"_How could he kiss her?_" Lily suddenly exclaimed in the dark of her best friend's room. She'd thrown her arms up in a dramatic gesture, her back still flat against the air mattress on the floor next to Miley's bed.

A muffled, groggy voice came from under the bed's light blanket. "Maybe she smelled good or something."

That got Lily to sit up and glare at the part of the blanket near the pillow. "Are you serious? 'Smelling good' is an excuse for Oliver to make out with Joannie, _all through free period on the last day of school_?"

There was a rustling noise while the comforter moved around, then Miley threw it off and leaned against her headboard. "Well, what do you want me to say, Lily? For the _entire week_ since school ended, you've been asking me 'how could he kiss her'? Over, and over, and over. Since I'm not Oliver Oken, and therefore _don't know_, I've run out of reassuring phrases like 'he still loves you, it was a moment of weakness,' and have moved on to saying the first thing that comes to my mind. Which, given that it's _1:30 am_, is bound to not make any sense at all."

Lily considered Miley's little speech, then dismissed it. So what if Miley was growing tired of Lily's obsession with what Oliver did? They were best friends, and Miley would have to deal with it. "_How could he kiss her_?" Lily whined again, then fell back on the mattress and stared at the ceiling.

After Miley let out a deep sigh, she answered with her practiced response. "It was a moment of weakness. He still loves you."

"That's all I ask," Lily replied. A minute or two passed as Miley went back under her blanket. But Lily still couldn't sleep.

After finding out about Joannie – through another classmate who had seen it, to add insult to injury – she demanded that she and Oliver take a break from their relationship. Oliver had apologized many times, and explained that Joannie had cornered him. Joannie had told him that she missed him and just wanted one more make out session before summer break. Oliver tried to tell her that he was in a serious relationship with Lily, but Joannie hadn't wanted to hear it – instead, she'd pushed Oliver up against the wall and kissed him. While Oliver had been decent enough to admit that it was his fault for continuing, he claimed that all reasonable thought went out the window after Joannie's lips crushed against his.

Even though Oliver had been defending himself, Lily took that as a strike against him. What will happen if Joannie tries something like that again? Or another girl hits on him? How could she ever trust him again?

That's when she'd suggested they take a break. She needed time to deicide if she ever _could_ trust him again.

And while she knew she did need the break, she still missed him like crazy. It didn't help that Miley still hung out with him. At first, Miley had been furious at Oliver herself. But when she cooled down she realized that he was still her friend, and that it wouldn't be fair to take sides…even if Oliver was _clearly_ in the wrong, in Lily's opinion. While Lily objected to it deep inside, she was currently keeping her mouth shut and letting Miley and Oliver keep their friendship. But that didn't mean that she couldn't wince every time Miley mentioned that she and Oliver were going somewhere together.

She could just imagine him as he was at that moment, probably curled up on his bed at home, his hair messy and poking out from his blanket, a little bit of drool at the corner of his mouth…

Lily shook her head. She needed a distraction. "So Miley, you go to New York City in two weeks, right?"

Slightly less annoyed at the interruption, probably since it was about her, Miley pushed down the blanket so she could see Lily. "Yup, and I can't _wait_. New York City is the most awesome place _ever_. You so have to come!"

"I don't know, Miley. It's for two whole months," Lily replied. Of course, when Miley had first told her to come along while Hannah judged a new taped reality show in New York, called _Next Teen Sensation_, Lily had been thrilled. This was especially so now because it would be nice to for her and Oliver to be on opposite ends of the country.

But then reality set in. She'd really miss her mother – two months was a long time. That was also a long time to sponge off Miley, who had generously offered to pay for Lily to stay in the hotel with her.

"Oh, come on, it's not _that_ long," Miley insisted. "It's like going away to summer camp. You said you've been to camp before. Well, this is the same thing…except for nasty cabins in the woods, you'll be in a four star hotel."

Lily laughed, a smile on her face for the first time in a while as she thought of her three summers at Camp Walden for girls in Maine. The camp had attracted her because of its excellent sports programs, and she made tons of friends. The year before eighth grade had been her last. Her mom hadn't been able to afford it the next year, but she wasn't sure why she never even thought to ask the year after…probably because then, it was much more fun to go to celebrity parties with Hannah Montana. "Yeah, I guess. I don't know, maybe. It would be fun to see Alex again."

"Alex?" Miley replied as she paused to remember the name. Her eyes widened when it clicked. "Oh _yeah_. She was like your best friend at camp, right?" After a second of thought, Miley became serious as she suggested, "Look, I know you feel weird taking money from me. Why don't you stay with her?"

Though the idea appealed to her, Lily shook her head. "No. No way. I couldn't ask someone I haven't seen in four years to let me stay with them for _two months_. I've seen you practically every day since you've moved to Malibu, and I _still_ feel guilty letting you pay for stuff with Hannah money!"

"But it's not like you haven't _talked_ to Alex in four years, right?" Miley pointed out. "You two are best internet buds. Chances are, she'll want you to stay as much as you want to stay with her."

Lily paused to consider that argument. It was true – for the past few summers, her and Alex always fantasized about meeting up. Lily had promised to teach Alex to surf if they both were ever in Malibu, and Alex wanted to show Lily the best places to shop if they got together in Manhattan.

Oh, the shopping…

It's not like Alex would have to pay for Lily to stay with her. And Alex's family owned a sandwich shop – maybe if she pitched in, she wouldn't feel too guilty.

And her mother already agreed to let Lily go to New York when Miley first asked. Lily would miss her, but like Miley pointed out, Lily had been away from her mother before.

As Lily glanced at the clock, she saw that it had been five minutes since she and Miley had started the conversation about New York. That was five minutes she hadn't been thinking about Oliver.

Well, she was sold.

"It couldn't hurt to ask," Lily admitted. "It's about 4:30 in the morning there, so there's no chance that Alex is logged on, but can I use your laptop to send her an email? I can't sleep anyway."

There was no response. "Miley?" Lily got up on her knees and peeked over the side of the bed. Sure enough, Miley had fallen asleep. "Miley!" Lily called in a loud whisper.

"Huh, what?" Miley replied with her eyes still closed.

"Can I use your laptop?" Lily asked again. When Miley didn't reply, she hissed, "_Miley_!"

While she turned away from Lily, Miley grumbled, "Yeah, whatever. My lipstick is on my dresser, next to the nail polish."

Lily laughed as she crawled over to where Miley's laptop sat on her desk in the corner, and took it with her back to her mattress. On the off chance her best friend was still conscious, Lily said, "I can't wait to go to New York. I hope you and Alex get along…"

An odd gurgling sound came from under the covers where Miley's head would be – she was definitely sleeping. Lily laughed again as she began typing her email to Alex.

* * *

_**New York City**_

_**Monday, 8:30 a.m.**_

The alarm clock's piercing noise was really beginning to annoy Alex Russo. While she had it programmed to play her current favorite song, it couldn't mask the incredible irritation of having to get up before noon on _summer vacation_. Really, it was criminal.

But if she wasn't downstairs, ready to work at her family's sandwich shop by _9:00 a.m._ on the dot, her parents would ground her for the rest of the day. Her parents got it in their heads to try one last attempt to teach Alex responsibility, and they were doing it by making her work _eight hour_ shifts at the restaurant every, single week day. After she consistently refused to show up before 12:30 p.m. the first week, they resorted to grounding her for the day every time she was late, even if it was only by a half hour.

She didn't have to like it, though. Finally Alex dragged herself up and reached for her wand on her nightstand. She pointed it at the alarm clock and chanted, "This stupid alarm clock is now not, a baseball should fill its slot."

Alex grinned in triumph when the clock turned into an average baseball. "Hah!" she remarked as she hopped out of bed. The window was open since her cheap father refused to put her air conditioner in this early in the summer. A wide smile still on her face, she wound up her arm, ball in hand. "And the pitch…" She hurled it out the window, where it bounced off the side of the apartment building next to her and ended up in the restaurant's dumpster. "It's out of here!"

"Alex!" Justin warned. Alex turned around to find her older brother standing in her doorway. Of course, the family golden boy was already dressed and on his way downstairs. "Didn't Dad tell you that you would have to start paying for a new alarm clock when you did that?"

"Relax, I'll get it out of the dumpster when I get downstairs and turn it back. It was just bad luck that one time it ended up in the apartment across the alley," Alex argued. She was almost fully awake, but dealing with her brother this early in the morning still irritated her.

Justin shook his head in disapproval. "Hurry up and get ready. The place is a mob scene this morning. You know how it gets during the summer with all those tourists."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be right down," Alex replied. When she ignored him on the way to her computer on her desk, he rolled his eyes at the brush off and left her doorway.

Not yet awake enough to start getting ready, Alex plunked herself down at her desk and booted up her computer to check her email. There was the usual junk email, some alerts from her favorite online stores that were having sales, and…an email from Lily.

Alex perked up instantly. The two mostly used an instant messenger service, so it was rare that they actually sent each other emails. Already she could tell that something was up before she clicked it open.

_Hey Alex,_

_What's up? Are your parents still making you work those early shifts? I suggest programming your cell phone alarm extra loud and putting it under your bed, so that you have to get up to turn it off. It's what I do when I want to go surfing early._

Hm, Alex would have to consider that. But it definitely wasn't as fun as turning her alarm clock into a baseball and pitching it out her window.

_Anyway, I know this is going to be sudden, but Miley (you remember, my best friend?) is staying in New York for two months while...her dad works on a reality show that's being filmed there. She asked me to go with her, but I don't want her dad to pay for me to stay in their fancy hotel for two months. Can I _please_ stay with you? It's just that we always did want to visit each other. And I promise, I have some savings to pay for my food and stuff, and if there's an opening, I'd love to work at your family's sandwich shop. But I realize that two months is _a lot_ to ask, and I understand if you can't do it. Miley and her family are leaving next week, so I'd really appreciate it if you got back to me soon. _

_Thanks!_

_-Lily_

Surprised, Alex just stared at the computer screen.

This was so awesome! She'd always wanted Lily to come to New York. While she would've preferred to surf in Malibu, this was great too. And she could introduce Lily to Harper. She was sure they would get along well.

But then she realized that Lily would be staying at her house. Where there was a wizard lair right downstairs.

Could her family keep their wizard secret for two whole months? It was one thing to have kept it from Harper before she found out. While she was Alex's best friend, she didn't _live_ there. Normally her parents were very hospitable to their children's friends, but this was different. Lily was right – two months was a long time. And she knew her parents would worry about keeping their family's secret.

On the other hand, Lily offered to pay her own way, and even work at the sandwich shop.

Well, it couldn't hurt to just ask her parents. Maybe if she promised them that she would be super careful about magic, they would agree. And she knew she wouldn't have to worry about Justin – he saw her pictures online, and let slip that he thought she was cute. The thought of her brother and her friend Lily together grossed her out, of course, but at least he would be on her side. Otherwise, she knew that he would be just as concerned about exposure as their parents.

That in mind, she turned off the computer and got up. If she was going to ask her parents about this, they had to be in a good mood. Which meant she had to be at work on time.


	2. Chapter 2

_**New York City**_

_**Monday, 10:30 a.m.**_

"_Please_?" Alex begged her father. The two were in the back kitchen so that they could begin preparation of ingredients for the lunch rush. While Alex had been dying to ask them as soon as she got downstairs an hour and a half ago, she was distracted with customers and didn't get a chance. So, after she'd held it in all morning, she was ready to burst. Because of this, she explained the whole situation with Lily to her father in practically one sentence and was now patiently waiting for his response.

Of course, she knew that the decision would come from both her parents. But if she could get her father on her side – which would be easy, since she _was_ "daddy's little girl" – half the battle would be won.

Her father was now staring at the wall in bewilderment after she'd given him the explanation. "_Please_, daddy?" Alex begged, an intentional pout on her face. The "daddy"/pout combination always worked.

Sure enough, Jerry had about to say no, but averted his eyes at his daughter's pleading. "I don't think so, Alex," Jerry replied. He busied himself with chores around the kitchen to avoid her face. "A mortal living here? For two _months_? Even if I _was_ okay with this, and I'm not saying I am, your mother would never go for it. Besides, we don't even know Lily."

"Yes you do! You met her all three summers!" Alex reminded him. "You always talked to her when you came for the parents weekend. You do know her!"

Jerry shook his head. "That's not what I meant, Alex, and you know it. Of course I've met Lily. But we don't _know_ her. What if we can't trust her, and she discovers our secret? It'll be a disaster!"

"But we can! I've told her a million secrets and she's never told anyone!" Alex insisted.

At that, Jerry paused and stared at her. "What kind of secrets?"

"Like…" Alex paused to think, then snapped her fingers. "Oh, I've got one. At camp, I was the one who put the plate of Jell-o in the counselor's chair. When she sat down, there was red goo all over her ugly khaki shorts, it was _so_ funny…anyway, Lily never even _thought_ of telling on me, not once!"

"Oh, _now_ you've convinced me," Jerry remarked.

Alex sighed. "Look, Dad, I don't know what it is, but I just _know_ that Lily can keep a secret. But she won't have to, because she won't find out about us! Justin, Max and I are _very_ careful with our magic! We've never even come close to being exposed!"

Alright, so maybe Alex was stretching the truth a _little_. But it was somewhat true that almost no one had ever been suspicious of their secret.

"Look, it would be one thing if she was a friend from school who wanted to spend the night," Jerry replied. "But you're talking about two months of Lily _living_ with us! There's bound to be some magical mishap that will make her suspicious!"

"Suspicious, maybe, but come on, Harper's been my best friend for _years_ and she never figured it out," Alex argued, although she wasn't sure if she was helping her case.

Jerry confirmed it for her when he retorted, "Oh yes, and we all know how observant Harper can be! Besides, Harper never lived with us!"

"But I've been best friends with her for years, which is practically the same thing," Alex argued, if weakly. "Look, Lily promised to pay her own way, even work in the restaurant to help out. She can sleep in my room on that air mattress we have in the basement. Please, Dad? She just doesn't want to sponge off her friend's dad by staying in a hotel room he'd be paying for, and she can't afford to pay for a hotel on her own. And…and she's one of my closest friends. I just want to spend time with her, daddy."

Cue the daddy/pout combo.

There was a long pause, and much to her delight, Jerry seemed to be going through an internal struggle, which meant there was hope. "Well…you're right, I did meet her, and between that and what you've told me, she sounds like a nice girl. I…" He paused again and gave her a sideways glance. "You said she offered to work in the shop? For free?"

"Yup," Alex assured him. She wasn't sure about the "for free" part, but she was sure Lily hadn't expected to be paid anyway.

Jerry sighed. "Alright, I'll talk to your mother about it.'

"Talk to me about what?"

The two jumped at the unexpected interruption, and turned around to find Theresa Russo at the doorway, Justin right next to her.

A smirk on his face, Justin walked into the kitchen and glanced at Alex's face. "Hm, I spot traces of the 'daddy/pout' combo. Alex, what are you trying to get Dad to give you permission for now?"

"Nothing. He and Mom are going to talk about it _later_," Alex insisted as she glared at him. Discussions like these were always best when the kids weren't around, and Jerry could take Alex's side as much as he wanted.

But at this point, Theresa was curious. "Come on, you two, what's going on?" she demanded, her arms crossed.

"Alright," Alex relented with a groan of aggravation. "My friend from camp, Lily, is coming to New York with her friend, who's father is working on a reality show for two months. She needs a place to stay…"

"Two _months_?" Theresa interrupted.

An equally surprised Justin whirled around to face her and exclaimed, "A mortal staying here for two months? Are you crazy? She –"

"Is _Lily_, remember?" Alex spoke up, and now wore a smirk of her own. "I showed you her pictures on the Internet. Now, refresh my memory…did you think she was ugly, or 'a total babe'?"

Justin froze mid-rant, then put a companionable arm around his sister's shoulders. "_Oh_, your friend _Lily_. Yeah, you mentioned how completely trustworthy she is, you know, in the_ totally unlikely_ event that she discovers our secret."

"Thanks for the help, Justin" Theresa remarked, disappointed that her son had so clearly left her high and dry. A quick look at her husband proved that Alex had manage to snag his support as well. With a long sigh, Theresa turned to Alex and warned, "You haven't won just yet, Alex. Your father's going to need some pretty convincing arguments when we talk about this later."

Alex just gave her a sweet smile. "I know, Mom. That's why I never go to you first."

"That's right," Theresa replied.

There was an awkward tension between the four after that, and no one was quite sure what to do next. Thankfully, Max poked his head in the open window that served as a pass through between the kitchen and the restaurant. "Hey, guys, look what I found!" he declared as he proudly held up a baseball. "It was in the dumpster outside! Justin, want to play catch?"

"Sure!" Justin exclaimed and ran from the uncomfortable kitchen atmosphere.

While dismissive of the transaction at first, Alex's eyes widened in realization and she ran after her brothers. "Hey, you two get back here! That's my alarm clock!"

* * *

_**Malibu**_

_**Friday, 2:00 p.m.**_

This was why Lily loved summer.

The blond reclined in the folding chair at the table outside of Rico's snack stand, a warm breeze on her face, her flip flops off and her toes in the sand. Three weeks ago this time, she would have been in English class.

Life was beautiful ever since she got Alex's email, which said that Lily could come to stay. While Alex explained that her parents expected their guest to work in the restaurant for free, Lily didn't mind at all. Anything was better than staying in Malibu, without her best friend, and the constant possibility of running into Oliver.

Besides, she was sure it wouldn't be so bad. At least she'd be spending time with Alex, in a new city. She would have had to work anyway if she stayed home. And while she wouldn't be getting paid, she'd have more experience and more recent references on her resume when she came back and applied for another job in the fall.

Yes, life was great when there was a vacation to look forward to. Speaking of which…

_Snap!_

Lily nearly jumped out of her seat when Miley snapped her fingers in front of her face. Still in a daze, she blinked a few times, then glared at Miley. "What'd you do that for?"

"Hello? We're supposed to be planning _the best vacation ever_ here!" Miley said as she gestured to the table, which was covered in various computer print outs and brochures that boasted the many exciting attractions New York City had to offer. The pile was the result of many Yahoo and Google searches over the past week.

Efficiently roused from her day dream, Lily shook her head and refocused her attention. "Right, best vacation _ever_. What should we do when we first get there?" Miley was mostly in charge of plans, since she'd been to New York City many times before for various Hannah appearances and concerts. Though Lily tagged along sometimes, she didn't know the city nearly as well.

"Number one when we get off the plane…" Miley began, then paused for dramatic effect. "…we need to get hot dogs."

Lily wrinkled her nose. The only hot dogs she remembered were the ones that they bought at a hot dog stand on the way to Hannah rehearsal. While the hot dogs had been good, the stand hadn't looked too sanitary. "Oh…kay, but as long as we don't get them from a stand again. Maybe someplace…cleaner?"

"But that's the _point_," Miley insisted with a laugh. "The best hot dogs in New York come from those carts. Like my daddy always says about hot dogs – 'Miles, just eat the doggy and don't think about where it came from.'"

"Your dad is always _so_ comforting," Lily remarked. Maybe she could say that she wanted her first meal to be at Alex's sandwich shop?

About to reply, Lily stopped when a movement caught her eye. Oliver had arrived at the beach. He was leaning against the snack shack counter. It was obvious that he was desperately trying _not_ to look in the girls' direction, as he looked everywhere but. "Oh no," Lily whispered.

"_Okay_, if it bothers you that much we don't have to get the…" Miley trailed off when she saw who Lily was staring at. "…oh," she said, and a concerned frown appeared on her face. She leaned in and said, "If it's easier for you, I'll go over and see what he wants. He obviously needs to talk to one of us."

But it was too late. Oliver had already gathered his courage and was slowly making his way to their table. Panic overcame Lily. Emotions ranged from lingering anger, to that confusing regret for ever demanding a break in the first place. "I can't…" she said as she got up from the table. "I have to go."

She went to run towards the beach, but Oliver broke into a run as well and caught up with her. "Lily, please. We have to talk before you leave."

Of course he was right. For this reason in particular she avoided him more than usual all week. Unable to say anything else, she replied, "So, how did you know I'm going to New York?" In that instant Lily wanted to kick herself for asking something so stupid. He _had_ to have heard it from…

"Miley. She told me," Oliver replied, thankfully in a neutral, not-mocking tone despite the ridiculous question.

With a long sigh, Lily turned around and stared at him. "Okay, let's talk. On the beach."

"Whatever you want," Oliver replied, relief in his voice. He walked by her side as they went over the sand bank, down to the flat beach. Both sat in the sand; thoughts of sand in their clothes never entered their mind. The main crowd was further down the beach, so the two were nearly secluded.

After several moments of awkward silence, Lily cleared her throat. "So…"

"Look, Lily, you know I want to be together," Oliver began. "But I don't blame you for this break. Which is why I'm willing to wait. But since you're going to be away for the summer, we need to define this break thing. Ross and Rachel didn't, and look what happened to them."

Lily couldn't help but laugh. "Very true." She was also a little relieved. She hasn't been sure what this talk would be about, so she was glad it wasn't Oliver's last attempt to get her to take him back before she left. Then she thought about his words. "Alright…so…do you want to be able to go out with other girls?" The idea that he might be asking her this to get permission for other relationships made her sick.

"What? No!" Oliver insisted. But then he paused, and didn't quite look her in the eye. "Well…look, I'm not saying I want to try speed dating or anything. But we're going to be apart for a long time and…things happen. _We_ hooked up when Miley was away."

After she took in his words, Lily shook her head. "No. No, Oliver, that's why we're on a break now. It just wouldn't make sense…"

"No, Lily, I…I meant for you," Oliver interrupted. "I know when you're away, there's going to be a lot of New York guys. I don't think you would ever cheat on me, but I just want to let you know that…I would be really heartbroken. I realize I don't have a right to tell you not to make out with anyone you meet, given what I did, but I just wanted to let you know. I keep thinking that you'll still be angry at me, meet someone, and you'll leave me for good. This trip stinks…not only because I'll miss you, but also because I won't have a chance to get you to fall for me again."

_Wow_, Lily thought. She hadn't been _thinking_ about the guys she might find in New York. How could she have not even considered that? Though she had obsessed over any girls Oliver would meet while she was away, she never wondered about the opposite situation. What happened if she did meet someone?

Well, she sincerely doubted that she would find anyone she liked more than Oliver, even in New York. "Look, Oliver, you've got nothing to worry about. I haven't even been thinking about meeting someone else," she assured him. "And I'll be so busy, I won't have time for that stuff. I'll be working at Alex's family's sandwich shop, and on the set of the reality show with Miley. And when I'm not doing that…I'm sure I'll be thinking about you."

"I hope so. Because you know I'll be thinking about you," Oliver replied, somewhat relieved. "And calling you. Being on the other end of the country doesn't mean that you can cut me off all together."

Lily had to suppress a frown. Honestly, she'd been hoping to do just that. But that really wouldn't be fair. "Okay. We'll talk."

They stood up and stretched, then began their trek back to Rico's. "So Alex's family has a sandwich shop, really? That would be so _cool_! Think about it, free sandwiches, _whenever you want_! I wish _I_ worked at a sandwich shop…"

Amused at the abrupt change of conversation, Lily smiled at him. "Yeah, it's a dream come true."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_**New York City**_

_**Sunday, 11:45 p.m.**_

The huge, heavy suitcase rolled slowly behind her. Lily had tried to pack light, but "light packing" for a two month trip was still a lot of stuff, as she discovered. Almost all her shorts and t-shirts were in this suitcase. Mr. Stewart. Jackson and Miley were behind her, each assigned a smaller bag to carry. Of course, Mr. Stewart offered to roll the one Lily took, but it was bad enough that he insisted on paying for the cab ride from the hotel.

"We're…almost…there…" Lily assured her companions. Since they got in on the late flight, they hadn't been able to see the sandwich shop sign from the cab, and missed it by a block. Normally Lily would have just bunked with Miley for the night and arrived in the morning. But, as she found out from Alex when she called with the suggestion, Mr. and Mrs. Russo had already been waiting up for her. Lily couldn't disappoint them after that incredibly sweet gesture.

Right behind Lily to her right, Miley replied, "Whew, that's good."

"What are you complaining about, princess?" Jackson snapped. "That makeup getting too heavy for ya?" he asked, his voice heavy with sarcasm. He'd been stuck with the second-largest suitcase, filled with shoes and other essentials. Miley, however, snagged the easiest load of the duffel bag filled with Lily's makeup and accessories, which included her favorite Lola wigs. Her Lola clothes would stay with Miley, but she'd brought some wigs and outfits herself for when she met Hannah at the reality show set.

Annoyed, Miley retorted, "You don't have to bite my head off! All I said was 'whew, that's good'!"

"Aw, bud, don't mind him," Robbie Ray suggested, Lily's skateboard tucked under his right arm. In his left hand he carried the bag with Lily's helmet and protective gear. "He's just cranky and tired." At Jackson's offended glare, Robbie explained, "We _all_ are. It was a long flight, and it's late. Heck, I'd rather not be around either one of ya."

Lily laughed, though she felt a little guilty that they had to drop her off so late. "Thank you so much for coming with me, guys," she said, not for the first time. "I know you all want to get to bed, so you can just drop me off. I'm sure the Russos are tired too."

"Oh no," Robbie Ray insisted. "You're going to be living with these people for two months, I want to meet 'em. And don't think you're going to be doing whatever you want for two months, either. Though I would've done it anyway, I promised your mama that I'd check on you a few times a week and give her a full report."

Under her breath, Miley muttered to Lily, "Don't worry, we'll still have fun."

"I know. Thanks, Mr. Stewart," Lily called back over her shoulder. When he nodded, she turned around and smiled to herself. Honestly, she didn't mind. While she would never say it out loud, she considered Mr. Stewart to be her father figure, and sometimes envied how close he and Miley were. True, her father visited every now and then, but it was never enough to form any kind of steady relationship.

When they reached the end of the street and still did not see the shop, Lily rounded the corner. Sure enough, the small side street revealed the Waverly Sub Station only a few feet away. "I see it!" Lily shouted, maybe too loud for a quarter to midnight. Then again, this was New York City, the city that supposedly never slept. "There's a flight of stairs, though!" she exclaimed in disappointment. It was a short one, but a flight of stairs nonetheless.

Five minutes later, they had overcome the obstacle and were running the home stretch toward the sandwich shop door. Before they could reach it, though, Alex Russo threw open the door and headed toward them. "Oh my gosh, you're here! Finally!"

"Oh my gosh, Alex!" Lily squealed. Excited, she threw down the handle of her suitcase and began jumping up and down. "I'm here, I'm here, I'm here!" she exclaimed.

Alex joined in on the jumping and replied, "I know, I know, I know! This is going to be so awesome!"

"_So_ awesome!" Lily agreed.

Once the two stopped jumping, Miley tapped Lily on the shoulder. "You know what would be even _more_ awesome? If you introduced us!"

"Oh, right!" Lily exclaimed, to enthused to be bothered by the faux pas. "Alex, this is my best friend Miley Stewart," she introduced. "And that's – "

However, Miley interrupted before Lily could continue. "Oh my gosh, Alex, people _had_ to have told you how much you look like the singer Mikayla. I mean, it's _uncanny_!"

"Thanks! But really, most people tell me I look exactly like Selena Gomez," Alex replied. At Miley's blank stare, she explained, "From the movie _Camp Hip Hop_?"

Miley just shrugged. "Never seen it."

At that, Alex's eyes widened. "Are you _serious_? We have to watch that together before you leave!"

"I'm so glad you two are getting along!" Lily said, completely honest. The thought of two of her closest friends meeting had been keeping her up at night. "For some reason I was worried you two wouldn't like each other."

The girls quieted when Jackson walked up with Lily's bag still in hand. "While I'm glad you ladies are all, like, total BFF's, can we _please_ go inside? I'd rather _not_ stay outside in New York City at midnight!"

"Oh, yeah! Let's go inside," Alex suggested and led the way to the shop's front door. Once the small group all made it inside, they were greeted by the sight of Alex's parents, who had been sitting at the shop's counter. "Mom, Dad! Lily's here!" Alex called.

Jerry and Theresa jumped up and walked over to the group. "Oh, thank goodness!" Theresa replied. "I started to worry when you said your flight was delayed. Lily, it's so nice to see you again, we're happy to have you here."

"Yeah! We're looking forward to it," Jerry assured her. When he saw Theresa give Robbie Ray an appreciative glance, Jerry kept the smile on his face but put a protective arm around his wife's shoulders.

As she noticed this, Lily just managed to suppress a laugh. Mr. Russo didn't have to worry – Mr. Stewart was the last guy in the world who would hit on a married woman. "Thanks, I know I said it over the phone, but I _really_ appreciate this, you have no idea. Mr. and Mrs. Russo, this is my best friend Miley, her brother Jackson, and her father Robbie Ray Stewart."

"Nice to meet you both," Robbie Ray said as he shook both their hands.

"Likewise. I'm Theresa, and this is Jerry," Theresa introduced. "Alex is our second child. We also have two boys – our oldest is Justin, and our youngest is Max. They went up to bed a little while ago though. We let Alex stay up to wait."

Robbie Ray nodded, then paused. "Wait, this Justin…how old is he?"

"Almost eighteen," Jerry replied.

With that information, Robbie gave Lily and Miley a sidelong glance. "Funny that neither of you mentioned that Lily would be staying with a seventeen-year-old boy."

"_Dad_! Stop that, you're embarrassing Lily! And me, and probably Alex too!" Miley objected, her face red.

But instead, Alex was laughing. "Trust me, you've got nothing to worry about. Justin is a _total_ – "

"_Gentleman_," Jerry interrupted before Alex could finish with whatever unpleasant word she was going to say. "Mr. Stewart, I understand your concern, but Lily will be fine."

"Thank you. And ya'll can call me Robbie Ray, " Robbie Ray said.

After she'd checked her watch, Theresa offered, "Look, I know it's late, but you all must be starving. Do you want something eat? It's on the house."

"Free sandwiches? Yes! I was hoping for this!" Jackson exclaimed. "Can we, Dad?"

Robbie Ray hesitated. "Well, if it's not too much trouble…"

"Oh, no, not at all!" Alex assured them, then grabbed Lily's wrist. "Come on! You can bring your stuff up – you're going to be sleeping in my room. Oh, Miley, you come too, I'll give you both a tour."

Miley followed Alex to the stairs, and though Lily grabbed her big suitcase to go with them, she felt her stomach grumble. They all hadn't eaten since before the flight. "That's great, but I am kind of hungry…"

"Don't worry, we'll come down in a few minutes when the food's ready," Alex assured her in a whisper when they reached the stairs. "I just don't want to get stuck helping Mom and Dad make it."

"_Oh_, okay! Good plan," Lily replied with a laugh. She attempted to get the suitcase on to the first step, but couldn't lift it enough. "Uh, Alex, Miley? Would you mind…." The three girls took hold of the suitcase, Lily and Miley on each end, with Alex's hold on the strap on the suitcase's side. While the adults and Jackson looked on in amusement, the three girls triumphantly carried the suitcase up the stairs.

* * *

_**Tuesday, 9:15 a.m.**_

After Alex showed Lily around the city on Monday, Miley was finally able to take Lily onto the set. Hannah had been stuck taping commercial spots, and Miley was annoyed that she couldn't spend her first day in New York with her best friend. Not only that, but her best friend was off having a great time with someone else.

To be honest, she still wished that Lily was staying with her in the hotel. Maybe Miley was being a little selfish…okay, she _was_ being selfish…but she had been looking forward to spending every minute with her best friend. They'd planned to shop 'til they dropped, see a Broadway show, and hang out at Times Square.

Now Lily would be busy working at the sandwich shop (Mr. and Mrs. Russo hadn't let her start until the following Monday, with the idea that Lily should at least enjoy her first week there). And when Lily wasn't working, she would be spending time with Alex. After all, why hang out with plain old Miley, when she did that every day back at home?

Alright, Miley knew she was being ridiculous, and that Lily didn't feel that way. But it was hard not to think like that after she saw how much Lily and Alex clicked.

Well, she could take comfort in knowing that once they got back to California, everything would be back to normal. So she could grin and bear it for two months. After all, no matter how close Lily and Alex seemed, Miley was still Lily's best friend. Miley had to keep reminding herself of that fact.

"So, don't you love it?" Miley asked as she showed Lily her Hannah dressing room. It was an average-sized room, not huge but not a closet either. What she loved that it was decorated in purples and blues, with tons of room for all of her Hannah clothes…and enough three-panel, full-length mirrors that she could probably look directly at her butt. Not that she would want to, of course.

A bright orange wig on, Lily as Lola stared at the room wide-eyed. "_Love it_? You should've told me! I could've lived _here_ for the summer!"

Miley laughed. "If I'd known it would be here, I promise I would've drawn you a lease."

"Well, it's officially awesome. When does the competition start?" Lily asked as she fell into a comfy purple chair in the corner.

After Miley herself sat at the dressing table's chair, she picked up her Hannah wig and answered, "Tomorrow. There's twelve finalists, all ages thirteen to seventeen, and they're going to start with simple singing challenges. I'm going to have to meet and work with four of them tomorrow. In front of the cameras, of course. For the first four weeks we send two home, then we're left with the top five for the rest of the weeks."

"So _that's_ how you do a reality show in two months," Lily replied while Miley started to put her wig on. "I was wondering that. I mean, _American Idol_ starts late January and doesn't end until May."

As she stuck the last few bobby pins in her wig, Miley explained, "Well, there was a lot of pre-screening apparently, and _Next Teen Sensation_ just had auditions in New York. We only start from the top twelve. The producers said something about wanting to get it all wrapped up in the summer so they can put it with the Fall lineup."

"Wait…twelve contestants, Hannah gets four of them, so…who are the other two judges? Does Hannah know them?" Lily asked with curiosity.

Miley hesitated. To be honest, she'd been wondering the same thing, and it was making her nervous. What if it was someone she didn't get along with? "I have no idea. The producers said that they wanted to keep it a 'fun surprise' so they could get our reactions on camera. Remind me why I signed up for a reality show again?" She raised an eyebrow when Lily laughed. "What?"

"I was just thinking. Wouldn't it be _hilarious_ if one of the judges was Mikayla?" Lily asked, then doubled over in giggles. "You two would always be fighting like Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell!"

"Yeah, _hilarious_," Miley muttered. Since Hannah was getting to meet the other two judges soon, Miley would rather not think about it, because it would make her a nervous wreck. "So, um…how was your day with Alex yesterday?"

At that, Lily jumped out of her chair. "Oh my gosh, it was so awesome! She took me all around the city…Miley, we rode the _subway_! Can you believe that? It's gross and it smells and the subway maps are so confusing, but it's _awesome_! They go so fast, and sometimes you don't get a seat and you have to hold on to these poles and pray you don't fall, it's so cool!"

"If you say so," Miley said with a laugh. Since she was a celebrity, she never took the subway when she went to New York for events – either she took a cab or got a limo. But from the way Lily described it and the few subway entrances she'd seen, she didn't feel like she was missing out on anything.

Once she'd calmed down, Lily went to stand next to Miley. "I do say so. _And_…I say while Alex is very cool, and I had fun…I'd have had even more fun if my best friend was there too. I missed you yesterday."

Miley stared at Lily's reflection in the mirror, so touched by the sentiment that she was speechless for a moment. "…really?"

"Really," Lily assured her.

While she needed to hear those words, it registered in Miley's mind that _Lily_ knew she needed to hear those words. "So…how did you know I was jealous?"

"Please, how could I not? It took you until just now to ask how yesterday went," Lily pointed out. "Whenever we do something separately, you're texting me before, during, _and_ you make me call the second I get home, no matter how late it is. When I barely got one text from you yesterday, I knew something was up."

"Am I that obvious?" Miley muttered, slightly embarrassed that she was that easy to read. Then again, Lily _was_ her best friend, and knew her better than anyone else. "Anyway, thanks. I'll at least _try_ not to be too jealous when you and Alex are off having fun while I'm stuck working."

Lily scoffed. "Oh, yeah, because judging a reality show is _so_ much work. I'd rather do that than wait tables."

"Hey, it doesn't look like it, but showbiz can be hard work," Miley insisted.

The two were interrupted when Robbie Ray opened the dressing room door. "Hey, Miles, Lily," Robbie Ray greeted. "They want Hannah on the main stage now. It's time to meet the judges."

"Now? Okay, Daddy, just give me a _little_ hint, _please_?" Miley begged as she and Lily began to follow Robbie Ray into the hallway.

Robbie Ray shook his head. "Nope, I'm under strict orders. It's gotta be a complete surprise…and, honestly, I want to see this myself."

"That doesn't help!" Miley exclaimed as her heart started to speed up from panic. She traded glances with Lily, who was also worried.

Finally they arrived at the backstage area, directly behind the huge wall that prevented them from seeing the stage on the other side. The area was full of activity, but Miley only paid attention to the stage hand who approached her. "Ms. Montana, you're due to enter stage left. Your fellow judges will each enter up stage and stage right."

"Oh…I see they're being theatrical about this. Just great," Miley remarked. She took a few deep breaths, and when she was sure her legs were steady enough to walk, she said, "Well, Daddy, Lola, I guess I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Good luck, bud," Robbie Ray told her as he gave her a quick hug.

Lily nodded. "Yeah, good luck Hannah."

After she'd let out one more deep breath, Miley nodded back and headed for the appropriate stage entrance. Once she reached there, however, Lily rushed up to her side. "Oh, who am I kidding? I can't let you do this alone!"

Miley raised an eyebrow. "You can't wait to see who the judges are, can you?"

"Nope. What are they gonna do, drag me off the stage?" Lily joked, but grew serious when she caught the eye of a security guard nearby who had noticed her. "Let's do this quick, okay?"

"You're not gonna hear an argument from me," Miley replied, then noticed a stage hand give her direction to enter. "Well, let's go then," she said. Lily right behind her, Miley gathered her courage and stepped on to the dimly lighted stage. It was completely dark, save for spotlights over her…and the two other judges.

In full panic mode when she recognized them, Miley gave Lily a pleading glance. "Quick, trade lives with me!"

Lily was staring at the two other judges in shock as she replied, "No way."

"Fine, be that way," Miley retorted. Her arms crossed, she stared at the two judges while she tried to figure out how she felt about the situation.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_**Tuesday, 3:00 p.m.**_

_Under the spotlights stood Mikayla and Jake Ryan, both just as startled and overwhelmed at the sight of each other and Hannah as she was to see them._

This is too freaky,_ Lily thought, also in complete shock. _I was _kidding_ about Mikayla being a judge. Miley must want to yell at me for jinxing it.

_The awkward, tense silence seemed to last forever, until finally it was broken, but not by one of the four._

"_Cut! What's that clown doing on the stage? This scene was supposed to be only for the judges!"_

_The four on stage received another surprise when Chad Dylan Cooper, star of teen drama _Mackenzie Falls_, walked up the stage's front steps. Lily didn't watch the show, but she knew that Hannah often ran into him at parties, small gatherings and red carpet events. His words had been blasted through a megaphone, and he was giving Lily a dirty look as he turned the megaphone towards Hannah and Lola. "Hannah! Leave your groupies behind for take two, okay?"_

"_I am not a groupie!" Lily argued, her hands on her hips. "And I don't care who you are, _no one_ calls Lola Luftnagle a clown!" _

"_What_ever_, Luftnoogle, get off my stage!" Chad retorted, of course through his stupid megaphone. _

_Thankfully, Hannah stepped between them and glared at Chad. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who says it's _your_ stage, Cooper?" Hannah demanded, her temper rising at the insults directed toward her and her best friend._

_Finally Chad put the megaphone down and, smugness in his tone, explained, "That was the other little surprise for this scene – _I'm_ the host of this reality show." He held up the megaphone as he added, " And co-director."_

"_Guy with three first names say what?" Hannah exclaimed._

_Lily glanced at Jake and Milkayla, to see that they were both amused by the exchange. However, she could see that Mikayla had resentment towards Hannah in her eyes, while Jake had reluctant longing for the blond pop star in his. _Oh boy,_ Lily thought as her concern for Miley grew…_

"Lily, why are you telling me this?" Jackson interrupted, a bite of sandwich in his mouth. "Do you really think I care about _any_ Hannah stuff my sister does?"

They were at Waverly Sub Station, and Lily had stopped in from the studio for a late lunch after she'd spent the day with Miley, who was still panicking over the judge situation when she left. Then Miley had to go do some stuff for the show that Lily wasn't allowed to see, so she'd decided to go back to the sub shop to hang out with Alex. Of course, Jackson hadn't cared to stay around the reality show set, so he'd been back at the shop getting to know the Russos. Apparently, he'd become fast friends with Justin.

A piece of sandwich had flown near her eye, and a disgusted Lily wiped it off with a napkin she took from the dispenser on the counter. "I'm sorry for interrupting you while you were…_grazing_," Lily retorted. "I just wanted to tell someone, okay?"

"Well, go tell Alex. She is your new BFF," Jackson suggested.

"She's not my new BFF!" Lily insisted, for some reason feeling that if she didn't, it would get back to jealous Miley. "She's just a close friend. Miley is my BFF."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "_Whatever_, just go talk to your close friend."

"You know I can't do that!" Lily replied. "How would I explain getting on to the stage when she doesn't know that Miley is Hannah Montana?" The last part was in a whisper, in case a member of the Russo family was anywhere nearby.

"Lily, _please_, can't you just take the hint and let a guy eat in peace!" Jackson finally snapped with annoyance.

Insulted, Lily got off her stool. "Fine! But while you eat your sandwich, know that the guilt of hurting the feelings of your little sister's best friends…" She stopped mid-rant when he ignored her and went back to her sandwich. "Argh!"

More to annoy Jackson than anything else, she began to stomp loudly up the stairs to the Russo's loft. True, she couldn't tell Alex about the entire day at the studio, but she could still spend some time with her friend…

"Oh!" Lily exclaimed. Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't realized that Justin was coming down the stairs and bumped right into him. "I'm so sorry," she apologized, embarrassed. While she'd arrived on Sunday, she was only introduced to him on Monday, and even then he'd been busy. This was the first time it was only the two of them, and she was nervous because, well…she really couldn't deny how hot he was.

Justin gave her an adorable reassuring smile. She noticed that he'd put his hand on her shoulder to help her regain her balance. "It's fine. Are you okay? You were stomping up those stairs pretty hard."

"Uh…muh…mah…" Lily stuttered, somehow unable to speak, her eye on his hand. "N-othing, j-just Jackson being a pig."

"How dare he. You'd think the guy would have manners around a…p-pretty girl," Justin managed to say, his face red.

Instantly relaxed, Lily laughed at the pitiful attempt to flirt. The line didn't make her think any less of him, of course. It was just nice to know that he wasn't one of those conceited guys who picked up girls every day. "Well, you know, to Jackson I'm just his little sister's best friend," Lily explained. "But I'm not to you, right? I'd like it if we can be friends…" She widened her smile and didn't bother to remind him that he still had his hand on her shoulder…

And then it occurred to her that she was flirting. When she was still in a relationship with Oliver. They were on a break, but still…she wasn't ready for this.

"Oh, uh, you know I was looking for Alex," Lily blurted as she took his hand off her. "Do you know where she is?"

The mood changed in a second as Justin's face went from red to a nervous white. "U-uh, well, our dad wanted us to…to…get something in the basement! Yeah! It might be hard to find, so it could take an hour…maybe."

"Oh. Well, I'm not doing anything, I'll look with you," Lily offered.

"No!" Justin exclaimed, a little too loudly. "I-I mean, no, Dad only wants family members in the basement. It's…It's pretty nasty down there, and he's afraid someone might get hurt and sue. He can be so paranoid," Justin said with an exaggerated shrug of his shoulders.

_He's obviously lying,_ Lily thought, somewhat hurt. But then she shrugged it off. It was probably something small, maybe embarrassing for Justin, that he wasn't comfortable sharing with someone he just met. After all, Miley lied to her about Hannah Montana for years before Lily caught her in the act, and they were still best friends. "Yeah, parents, what can you do."

"Yeah. So, I'm gonna go, are you going to be around later?" Justin asked as he began to make his way down the stairs.

Lily nodded. "Yeah, I probably will. Miley's going to be busy in the studio for a while…" She paused, then decided to add, "She does work around the studio, too. Her dad got her a little part time job for the summer." Well, it wasn't a complete lie. As the agent, Robbie Ray did negotiate Hannah's contract.

"Oh, cool," Justin replied. "I'll see you later, then. If you're looking for something to do, you can use my laptop if you want. It's on the coffee table."

"Thanks. I'll see you later," Lily replied, then stood on the stairs and continued to watch him walk…into the kitchen. She shrugged. She hadn't been in the kitchen much, so the door to the basement could have been in there.

* * *

_**Tuesday, 3:20 p.m.**_

Her head rested on her hand, Alex at least made an effort to keep her eyes open while her father taught the magic lesson. It wasn't because she cared about whatever he was teaching, of course. Lately her father had been catching her the second her eyes closed.

While she usually did take a power nap during her magic lesson, Alex was particularly tired that day. Touring the city with Lily, and then getting up early the next day for work, left her so tired she'd been extra cranky to customers. She'd pleaded for the rest of the day off, but so far her mother refused, and she didn't get a chance to beg her dad. Her mother explained her lack of sympathy by telling her that working even when she didn't feel the best was part of taking responsibility for a job.

Alex blinked sleepily when she felt her head begin to slide down her hand. It was meant to wake her up, but it did nothing as her head continued to fall sideways.

She snapped her head back up so hard that it startled even her. "Wha…" she muttered in a tired daze.

"Good morning, Alex," Jerry said, sarcasm in his voice. "Did you sleep well?"

Alex narrowed her eyes at her father. Beside her, Justin and Max were trying very hard not to laugh. "No, I _didn't_ sleep well," Alex snapped. "Because _someone_ keeps making me get up before nine on summer vacation!"

"You got up before nine during school, didn't you? Why is this any…" Justin paused as he remembered that Alex often slept late when their parents went to work, and didn't bother to get to school until after second period. "Right."

Max leaned in near his sister. "See, what I do is drink a _lot_ of soda when I get up. That way I'm peppy, _and_ I need a lot of bathroom breaks!"

"So _that's_ why the bathroom door is always locked in the morning!" Jerry exclaimed. "Max, stop doing that. Now can we please get back to the lesson?" When his children gave him barely perceptible nods, he went back to the chalkboard, on which was written the words for the new spell they were learning that day. "As I was saying, the Truth Spell has been a popular one since its invention in 1742 by wizard Peter Greenwald. The story goes that he wanted to know why his bakery wasn't a success in his town, but he knew his customers – who were his close friends – would never tell him the truth. So, he cast the spell, only to find…"

"That they thought his bakery sucked?" Alex interrupted with no enthusiasm in her voice.

About to reprimand her for the interruption, Jerry paused. "Yes, actually. Of course, 'sucked' wasn't in use back then, but they didn't think he was a very good baker."

"Poor guy," Justin remarked. He actually seemed somewhat entertained by the story.

Max nodded. "Yeah. Did he fix his recipe?"

"Yes, he did," Jerry answered, pleased at the interest. "It turned out he was just using too much salt in his dough, and…"

"Oh my gosh! Can you please get to the stupid spell so we can end early and I can take a nap?" Alex exclaimed, then let out a frustrated groan.

Jerry gave her a sympathetic frown. "I'm sorry, honey, but you need to learn this lesson. You have to learn responsibility. Real jobs aren't going to let you sleep until noon."

"I know," Alex confessed. "But can you at least give me a lighter shift since Lily's going to start working soon? Maybe only afternoon shifts?"

"No, Alex. I'm going to be taking Lily's hours from your brothers' shifts," Jerry answered. At Alex's outraged look, he added, "_They_ aren't learning how to have a real job. Lily will get the morning and lunch rush during the week, and a full day on the weekend. We've been meaning to hire someone anyway, so there won't be too much change in the schedule."

Alex had tuned out after "_they_ aren't learning how to have a real job." Not really caring about how the schedule worked, she retorted, "Fine, whatever."

Though he looked like he wanted to say more, Jerry shook his head and went back to the lesson. "Anyway, since its creation, the spell has become one of the necessary spells for wizards. All wizards, from the most powerful to the average, can find uses for this spell in their everyday life. Now…Justin, say these words – "

Struck by inspiration, Alex raised her hand before Justin could pick up his wand. "Wait, Dad, can I try it?"

Her family stared at her in shock. Alex was volunteering to demonstrate a spell, when she'd barely been paying attention for the past week? Jerry chalked it up as a miracle and answered, "Uh, sure Alex. Glad you're paying attention."

"Right. I need to start learning responsibility," Alex said while she got up to stand in the center of the room next to her father.

Still surprised, Jerry continued, "Yeah. So, point your wand at me and chant the words on the board, pronounced 'vos ostendo sum verum ex iam in.'"

"Gosh, you would think a common spell would be easier to say," Alex remarked. Then she pointed her wand at Jerry. "Vos ostendo sum verum ex iam in."

There was a flash of light purple that shot at Jerry, who seemed unaffected by the sensation. "Okay. Now ask me a question you know I wouldn't answer with the truth." He paused. "Maybe I should've had Justin cast this on you."

"Too late for that. Hey Dad, when's yours and Mom's anniversary?" Alex asked.

"I have absolutely no idea," Jerry answered, then his eyes widened in horror when he realized what he said. "Oh, oh! I didn't…"

"Ask him when Mom's birthday is!" Max suggested as he and Justin traded amused looks, both contemplating the possibilities.

Alex smiled. "I was about to. Hey Dad, when is Mom's birthday?"

Though he'd slapped his hands on his uncontrollable mouth, Jerry still mumbled, "I…have…no…idea." Then Jerry took his hands off his mouth and glared at his snickering children. "You two, not a word about this to your mom, or I'll tell her about the time I caught you three in the kitchen eating ice cream at two in the morning!"

"But you got a spoon and joined us, didn't you?" Justin reminded him.

"That's not the way I'll tell it," Jerry promised. "Alex, reverse the spell now!"

Alex nonchalantly passed her wand back and forth in her hands. "See, I would, but now I'll need some amusement when I'm working my _long _shifts."

"Fine then," Jerry retorted, then went to the shelf and got the magic dust, which reversed any spell cast by a wizard. The spell reversed, Jerry gave Alex a smug look. "See, your scheming didn't work."

"Wow, you're right, Dad. I guess now I'll just need to cast the spell again when Mom's already _in_ the room," Alex replied with an exaggerated sigh of disappointment.

"You just do that…but, uh, not before I call your grandmother and ask her when your mother's birthday is," Jerry said as he ran to the lair exit. "Don't go anywhere, I'll be back in five minutes."

While her brothers stayed where they were, Alex went to the couch and made herself comfortable. "Just so you know, _no_ call to Grandma lasts less than a half hour. You do what you want, but I'm taking a nap."

* * *

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews so far, it's awesome that people are reading this.

So, yeah, I needed a host for the reality show, and decided to pull in _Sonny with a Chance _character Chad Dylan Cooper. He'll be a main character in the Miley subplot, but that's it for the minor SWAC crossover.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: So, Disney Channel was on and they had a commercial with Lilly's name in it…turns out it's spelled with two l's, oops. I'll be spelling it that way from now on.

Thank you for the reviews!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

_**Tuesday, 6:35 p.m.**_

If there was one thing Justin learned that night, it was that a family dinner was not a good occasion for flirting.

He'd grasped that concept about a half hour ago when he'd tried to sit next to Lilly. Before he could sit down on the couch with his plate of food, Miley had grabbed the spot next to her best friend. The only spot in the living room left was between Miley and the couch's arm.

Justin wouldn't have been surprised if Miley planned it that way. While Justin resolved to get to know Lilly better some other time in the two months she would be there, Miley refused to give up on her shameless flirtation with him. Apparently she didn't mind an audience, since all the other teens sat around them. And she must have been either be ignoring or oblivious to the evil, jealous looks Harper was giving her.

At the moment, there was a lull in the conversation as everyone ate. On the couch sat Alex, Lilly, Miley, and him, in that order. Harper sat in the club chair on Alex's side, while Jackson sat in the club chair on his. Though booted out of the living room seating, Max still wanted to sit with the older teens, so he sat on the floor between Justin and Jackson. Justin's parents and Mr. Stewart ate at the dining room table, both for the teens' privacy and theirs. Prior to their guests arriving, Justin's mother had insisted on a group dinner at the table so they could all get to know each other. However, everyone could see that ten people wouldn't be comfortable at a table normally set for five, so she relented and set the chicken parmigiana meal up on the kitchen table for a buffet style dinner.

Though the silence was companionable, Justin decided to use it to his advantage and start a new conversation – one that involved Lilly. "So, uh, are you two nervous about junior year? I know Alex is going to be worried about SAT's."

Before either could answer, Alex scoffed. "You know that is so not me."

Lilly glanced at her. "Are you going to take a prep course or something?"

At that, Alex, Harper, Justin and Max burst out laughing. "Oh, that's a good one," Alex said through gasps for breath. When she recovered, she explained, "I never worry about school since, well, I don't care about it. Besides, I heard that you don't get points off if you don't answer a question, so I'm just going to leave most of the test blank! Honestly, I don't get why people panic about this test."

Not used to Alex's lacking book smarts, Lilly, Miley and Jackson traded "is she for real?" looks, no one sure how to respond. Finally, Harper let out a loud, forced chuckle. "Oh, Alex, you're so funny!" Relieved, everyone agreed and laughed in response, while Alex sat there, confused.

"So, what about you two?" Justin asked.

Though Lilly had her mouth open to answer, Miley quickly answered, "I'm not a brainiac or anything, but I think I did well. Better than Mr. 'Only studied for two hours the night before' over there."

"I don't get that," Jackson replied. "How are you supposed to study for a test when you have no idea what's on it?"

Lilly sighed. "My mom signed me up for prep classes practically the first day of sophomore year. I didn't really argue though, I know I have to get a scholarship if I want to go to college."

"Oh, really?" Justin replied, intrigued by the one of the first bits of Lilly's personal life he'd heard. Then it occurred to him that both girls had been talking in the past tense. "Wait, you're going to be _seniors_? But Alex…"

"Yeah, they didn't separate by ages at the camp where we met," Lilly explained.

Alex smiled at the memory. "Fortunately for us. We met because she helped me escape from a furious, huge thirteen-year-old who I'd sprayed with finger paint."

"Oh yeah! I knew where to run because I'd already gotten lost on the way to the bathroom," Lilly said with a laugh.

The group chuckled at the story, and Justin brought back the conversation to the original subject. "I'm just surprised that you two are my age."

"Yeah, we just had our junior prom," Miley replied, then assured him, "I didn't have a boyfriend – _and, still, don't_ – so I went with a sweet guy from school."

Justin ignored the hint, and instead used the comment to ask Lilly, "What…about you? Did you go with, uh, a guy from school?"

After a quiet pause, then Lilly finally replied, though her eyes didn't meet his. "I, uh, went with my boyfriend, Oliver."

"Oh. Your boyfriend," Justin repeated in saddened disbelief. He didn't get it. He could have sworn she liked him back. They'd had such a moment on the stairs earlier, that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her…

"Yes!" Harper exclaimed, relieved that she wasn't competing with _both_ new girls. At the group's look, she blushed and mumbled, "Sorry."

"Awk_ward_…" Max declared in the tense silence that followed. He promptly grabbed his empty plate and turned to Jackson, "Hey, want to see if my mom will put the brownies out yet?"

"You don't have to ask me twice!" Jackson agreed with a little too much enthusiasm. The rest of the group watched as both boys threw out their empty paper plates in the garbage, then went over to the adults' table.

Two minutes later, the parents had disposed of their clear plates as well, and Theresa addressed the group, "If you're finished, throw out your plates. Dessert will be out soon. I made brownies just this afternoon."

"And by 'made', she means 'forced her children to mix up the stuff from the package,'" Alex informed the guests in a whisper.

The group laughed and got up to dispose of their plates. Justin ended up next to his father, who was giving his son a concerned look. "Are you okay?" Jerry asked.

At the casual question, Justin hesitated. He couldn't deny he was disappointed by the discovery that Lilly, his only romantic prospect in a while, had a boyfriend. But the more he thought about it, the more he concluded that it probably wouldn't have been a good idea to have a fling with someone who he would be living with for the next two months. "Yeah, I'm okay," he decided.

* * *

_**Wednesday, 5:10 p.m.**_

"Two Brooklyn Bridges and a Meat Me in Italy!" Alex yelled after she'd pushed open the kitchen door.

"I'm _right_ here!" Justin retorted. He was on sandwich duty at the moment while the rest of the family took orders from the early dinner rush out front.

"I know," Alex replied with a smile. "Yelling it is so much more fun."

Justin glared at her. "What are you doing back here anyway? You're just supposed to _tell me in a normal tone of voice_ through the window. That's why we have it."

"I thought it was there so we can pass food easily from the kitchen to the restaurant," Alex retorted smugly.

"Well, yes…" Justin reluctantly admitted, then shook his head. "Why are you here?"

Alex sighed from pure exhaustion. She _despised_ all this work. And it wasn't good for anyone, really, because when she was tired, she got cranky, and therefore didn't bother to put on a fake smile for customers. "Taking a _break_. This place has been so busy I've actually had to _work_ the whole shift. Stupid tourists, why can't they tour their own city?"

While he began to prepare the sandwiches Alex just put in for, Justin laughed in agreement. "Yeah. Well, at least when Lilly starts working on Monday, you'll probably get some down time. Then you can study for the magic quiz next Tuesday."

"There's a magic quiz next Tuesday? Aw, _man_," Alex said with a groan.

Justin nodded. "Yeah, and Dad told me that the truth spell is going to be on it. I'll bet you don't even have it memorized."

"It's so _hard_!" Alex whined. "Why can't I just use 'Some are evil, some are kind, but now all must speak their mind'? I don't get why Dad's bothering to teach us this new truth spell, when _that_ one worked for me like two years ago when I used it on Gigi."

With a condescending tilt of his head, Justin paused his sandwich making to go into magic lecture mode. "Oh, Alex, simple Alex. It's right there in the spell – 'now _all_ must speak their mind.' That spell is _very_ general, and can't be directed at one person. And I'll bet when you used it, _you_ were under the spell too, right?"

"Well…yeah," Alex muttered. She knew there had to be some reason her father was teaching them a different truth spell, but she had to ask.

"Right. And it's also very weak," Justin added. "Even if you change the 'all' to a specific person, because of a technical glitch, the caster is still under the spell. And really, the spell is only for the person to 'speak their mind.' If they're ignoring you when you ask them the question you need them to answer, they wouldn't have to answer you, since whatever you asked them isn't on their mind…right?"

Alex rolled her eyes. _You ask one question_, she thought. "Okay, okay, I get it! Old spell bad, new spell necessary. You bore me – I'm going back to work."

"Wait, before you go," Justin said. He slapped together one of the sandwiches she'd placed an order for and handed it to her.

"Ugh, work," Alex grumbled. She took the sandwich to the customer out front, turned around…and paused. Lilly and Miley were sitting at the counter. "Hey!" Alex greeted, relieved she had a distraction for a while. For the past couple of days, Lilly had been spending most of her time at the studio with Miley. Which Alex didn't get. She personally wouldn't spend all of _her_ time in a new city with her dad at his job while he worked. She'd heard from Justin that Miley had a part time job there, but still…how exciting could it be?

Lilly smiled, a soda already next to her on the counter. "Hey, Alex! Working hard?"

"No, hardly working. Or trying to, anyway," Alex answered as she sat on a stool on Lilly's other side. "We've actually had customers. I'm not used to this."

Confused, Miley raised an eyebrow and replied, "Don't ya'll usually have customers, this being a restaurant and all?"

"You would think so," Alex replied. She stretched on the stool, her legs out in front of her. "I really hate this. Working in a restaurant is _so_ boring…" At Lilly's disappointed frown, Alex quickly added, "But I'm sure you'll just love it."

"I'm sure," Lilly replied in a wary tone.

Alex gave her a reassuring smile. "No, it's just that I've been working in here for _years_. I'd like to work somewhere _else_ for a change. Heck, I'd even like a job in the studio where your father works, Miley. You two seem to be enjoying it since you're spending so much time there." She hadn't meant it to sound like a hint for Miley to get her a job there, but after Alex said it, she liked the idea and hoped that Miley would take it that way. Though she knew she would still have to work at the sandwich shop, working at a television studio would be awesome. At the very least it would be a change of scenery.

Luckily for Alex, Miley took the bait. "Oh, well, if you want I could get you a part-time job," Miley offered. "I was talking with Jake Ryan, and he was _just_ saying how he needs some assistants."

"_Seriously_?" Alex blurted as she almost fell off her stool. Alex usually kept her cool, but the thought of working with a real celebrity was enough to get even _her_ excited.

Lilly had whirled around and had her eyes narrowed. "Yeah, _seriously_?" she said in a sharp tone.

With an undecipherable look at Lilly, Miley replied, "I-I mean, you probably won't see me much, since I work with Hannah Montana, and she's _on the other side of the studio_." For some reason, Lilly seemed to calm down a little bit at this. "And I'm sure Jake will be cool with however many hours you want to work, so if your parents still want you to work part time here, you can."

"Uh, sure?" Alex replied, not sure what to make of the interaction. There was something going on with these two, and her instincts were usually right about this sort of thing. "Thanks, Miley. That would be great."

Before the conversation could continue, Theresa passed by with an order in her hands, then noticed that her daughter was sitting and talking with her friends. "Alex!" she whispered. "Get back to work! That table over there has been waiting five minutes for someone to take their order!"

"Hey, _I_ had to wait _ten_ whole minutes for the subway the other day. They can wait!" Alex retorted. At her mother's glare, she reluctantly got up from her seat. "Fine, I'm going, I'm going." When Theresa nodded in approval and went back to work, Alex watched the rest of her family work for a moment, then whispered to Lilly and Miley, "At the very least, I'll be away from _them_."

* * *

_**Thursday, 8:30 a.m.**_

Lilly Truscott was not happy. And Miley Stewart knew it.

"What were you _thinking_?" Lilly exclaimed in Hannah's dressing room. After Miley offered Alex the job, she'd made up some excuse about having to get back to set and made a bee line for the restaurant's front door. Lilly had been left at the Russo's fro the rest of the day, and so hadn't been able to confront Miley until this morning. That meant that the anger started yesterday had over twelve hours to build. "Offering Alex a job like that? Are you _nuts_?"

From her seat at her vanity, Miley winced, then attempted a weak smile. "I can get you one too if you want…"

"You know what I mean." Lilly retorted. "Even _if_ Hannah and Jake are at opposite ends of the studio, Alex still might suspect that _something_ is up when she doesn't see Miley all day. And you all aren't in your dressing rooms the whole time. There are a lot of scenes with both Jake and Hannah, and they're both going to need their assistants. Alex isn't oblivious, Miley. She's going to suspect that something is up. Especially if Alex spends enough time with Hannah, and notices how much she looks like you."

When Lilly paused, Miley turned to Lilly in her chair and interrupted, "Why are you freaking out about this? Alex is bored with her job, so I offered to let her work here. Jake will keep her so busy that I doubt she'll even have _time_ to get suspicious…you know what a diva he can be. If I'm not worried about _my_ secret, you definitely shouldn't be."

"I…I…" Lilly replied while she tried to think of a response. But unfortunately, Miley had a point. She really shouldn't be getting so worked up about this if Miley wasn't.

When she was honest with herself, Lilly had to admit that she just didn't like the idea of Alex on set when she wasn't. Alex was _her_ friend, a friend who was separate from her Malibu life. Lilly _knew_ she was being selfish – much like how Miley didn't like Lilly and Alex spending so much time together – but she couldn't help it. Part of her wished that she and Alex remained internet friends. Friendship was so much more complicated in real life.

Since Lilly had remained quiet while she thought this, Miley gave her a concerned look. "Lilly, are you okay?"

"It's just…" Lilly trailed off as she tried to find a way to express her anxiety without sounding completely selfish. There was none. "Alex is _my_ friend, okay?" she whined. "I know it's wrong but it's how I feel. The thought of you two hanging out without me when she's always been _my_ friend…it bugs me!"

Miley hesitated, then replied, "Lilly, you told me that I would always be your best friend. Don't you think it's the same the other way around? And I promise, Alex and I will probably barely see each other. I'll be busy as Hannah, and like I said, Jake will probably have her going uptown town for Jamba Juice or something on a daily basis."

Despite the moment's seriousness, Lilly had to laugh. "Jamba Juice? They have that in New York?"

"Oh, yeah, there's like five just in Times Square," Miley answered. She tilted her head. "So, you okay?"

Lilly shrugged. Honestly, she still didn't like it, but short of telling Miley to fire Alex – which she wouldn't even consider – there was nothing she could do. "Yeah, I guess."

"Oh, Hannah?"

At the sound of Chad's voice outside and the turn of the doorknob, Miley let out a squeak of panic. She didn't have her Hannah wig on. And Lilly didn't have a Lola wig on.

"One second!" Miley shouted. The girls scrambled to locate their respective wigs, but instead they shoved on each other's. When Miley looked at her hair and saw purple, she grimaced. "This ain't right."

"Talk about redundant," Lilly agreed as she felt a strand of her wig's blond hair. They quickly switched and fixed their new hair.

Finally, Miley called, "Come in!"

The door opened, and Chad stepped in. "Hannah…Clown," he greeted

"Buttmunch," Lilly retorted.

"So, what were you doing?" Chad asked, then winked at Hannah. "Talking about me?"

Miley rolled her eyes. "You wish. What do you want, Chad?"

"Just to let you know that Your Highness' presence is requested on set," Chad answered.

Her arms crossed, Miley replied, "Am I to assume that yours is as well, Prince Jerkface?"

"Oh, and there's that diva temper flaring up," Chad said with sigh. "What _would_ the press think if they saw their princess Hannah Montana if they could see her now?"

"They would be cheering me on for slaying the evil toad prince," Miley snapped.

"I guess you would know the public best, since you're so _over exposed_ and all," Chad replied smoothly, then opened the door and gave her another wink. "See you on set."

When he closed the door behind him, Miley let out an aggravated scream and stomped her foot.

"Whoa, what's going on _here_?" Lilly asked. She'd been splitting her time between the Russo's and the studio, so she didn't know every detail of Miley's apparent "love/hate" relationship with Chad Dylan Cooper.

Miley sighed and sat back down in her vanity's chair. "He's started this thing where he constantly accuses me of being a diva. It's super annoying, especially since he's so much more full of himself than I would _ever_ be."

Amused, Lilly went to stand next to Miley. "So what does Jake think of this flirting thing you and Chad have going on?"

"He seems to be _totally_ ignoring it…" Miley replied, then paused. "Hey! It is _so_ not flirting…is it?"

Lilly shrugged. "Remember when you thought Jake was stuck up, but you really liked him, so you pretended to hate him?"

"This is _so_ not the same…" Miley hesitated as she considered Lilly's words, then fell back in her chair. "Sweet niblets! The boy likes me!"

"And you like him," Lilly pointed out.

Miley shook her head as she got up and began to pace the room. "But I can't go out with Chad when Jake's going to be around, can I? And besides, after I kissed him in Las Vegas, I kind of felt something and I'm not completely sure I'm over him…"

"You kissed Jake in Vegas?" Lilly exclaimed in surprise. She never heard _that_. When did this happen?

When she realized her slip, Miley grinned. "Uh, you know what they say, what happens in Vegas…" At Lilly's glare, she explained, "When he walked me back to my room after the incident in the chapel. I wanted to prove to him that I didn't feel anything for him, and surprise…I was wrong."

Lilly raised an eyebrow. "And how did he react?"

"I don't know! I said felt nothing, then slammed the door in his face!" Miley exclaimed. "Should I go out with Chad if I might like Jake? But what if Chad doesn't really like me…Hannah? And what if Jake doesn't want to go out with me? _Help!_"

"You didn't even mention your shameless flirtation with Justin at dinner," Lilly reminded her, some resentment in her voice. It was obvious that Justin had liked _her_, but of course Miley had a compulsion to flirt with any available guy within range.

"Yeah, but I got the feeling that he might not be interested in me. He was kind of geeky anyway," Miley replied in a nonchalant manner that irritated Lilly even more.

_Well, at least she's not interested in him anymore_, Lilly thought, then shook her head in surprise. _Wait, why do you even care? Hello, Oliver? Remember him?_ "Right. So, either Chad or Jake."

"Yeah, and right now, I'm thinking Chad," Miley replied. "It's pretty clear he does like me, and I'd rather not start things up with Jake…it's so complicated, you know? Worse comes to worst and it doesn't work, Jake will get jealous and want to go out then. It's practically a win-win."

Lilly was barely concealing a glare. It just wasn't fair that Miley had her pick of guys, while she was having relationship trouble because the guy kissed another girl. Then again, Miley's boy crazy behavior was nothing new. "Yeah, aren't you the lucky one? Come on, they're all probably waiting around for Ms. Montana to arrive."

"Oh, right, forgot," Miley replied and headed to the door. "Come on, Lola."

"Right behind you, Ms. Montana," Lilly grumbled. She hadn't been kidding about everyone waiting. Maybe Chad's diva comments weren't that far off.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks again for the reviews! I'm so glad people are reading this!

I'm really not sure why I'm continuing to put the date and time at the beginning of each section, but I like it. Call it a story quirk.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

_**Saturday, 8:25 p.m.**_

The Russo loft had become sleepover central. Since it was the visitors' first weekend in Manhattan, Miley joined Lilly, Alex and Harper for an all-out, two-day sleepover bash. While reluctant to do anything girly, the other three forced Alex into such activities like makeovers and discussing the latest teen male celebs. However, Alex took charge in the prank calling department. So far, Jackson was about to have twenty orders of green beans with garlic sauce from the Italian place down the street delivered to his hotel room, right before his big date with a local girl he met earlier that day.

If the bill didn't make him hurl, the smell would. Miley couldn't _wait_ to hear the details.

When Alex hung up the phone with the Italian restaurant, the four burst out laughing. "That was _awesome_!" Miley exclaimed through her laughter, which was predictably the hardest of the group. "Let's do another one!"

"In a little while. I need someone to do my nails again. You did a great job with them last night, Lilly, but I ruined them this morning when I was putting the finishing touches on my pajamas," Harper answered while she frowned at her chipped nails, most of which were only half covered with blue nail polish. Her current outfit consisted of a short-sleeved button-down top with pants, their basic color a light pink, but covered with iron-on pictures of various sleepover items like pillows and CD's. Miley wasn't sure, but she thought she saw pieces of _real_ popcorn super-glued throughout the iron-ons.

Lilly nodded and reached for the nail polish, lined up on the living room coffee table. They'd been allowed to take over the space while Mr. and Mrs. Russo went out for the evening, and Alex's brothers hung out with their friends. "Sure. Do you want the same color? Because I think this blue or that purple would go really well with your pajamas, which are _amazing_ by the way."

"Thank you! That's so sweet!" Harper exclaimed, and the two hugged.

That was how all of them had been for the past two days – constantly giggling, and acting like they'd known each other their entire lives. Lilly and Harper hit it off, but Miley tended to admire Alex's attitude, and fashion sense. However, none of them really forgot that Lilly and Alex were close friends first, because often they would start talking, which left Miley and Harper to get to know each other. But that was okay, because other than the weird outfits, Miley found Harper to be much like Lilly – funny, outgoing, and incredibly bubbly. Of course, this was after Miley apologized for hitting on Justin at the group dinner.

"Hey, what happened to the music?" Miley announced, and the group grew silent as they all noticed that the Jonas Brothers CD they'd been playing had finished a while ago.

Harper reached for her bag behind her and pulled a CD. "I brought my Hannah Montana CD. Do you guys like her?"

"Ugh, do we have to put that on?" Alex whined. "She's okay, but she's just a little too 'bubble gum pop' for me. Every song is so darn _happy_."

Miley's jaw dropped in anger, and she saw that Lilly was equally offended. "_Hey_!" Miley retorted so sharply that the other two jumped. "Hannah Montana has _some_ edge. What about…what about…'If We Were a Movie,' huh? Or 'I Miss You'?"

"_Okay_, calm down! What are you, her number one fan? Oh, wait, I believe that title belongs to some eight-year-old girl with her very own Hannah wig," Alex remarked. Harper couldn't help but chuckle, and the two high-fived.

Though she was fuming inside, Miley caught the warning glance Lilly was giving her, which was clearly begging her not to lose her cool. Miley made an effort to calm herself, since it would probably embarrass Lilly if she lost her temper over something that shouldn't be a big deal. "Well, I don't care, _I_ am a big Hannah Montana fan."

"Yeah, no one loves Hannah Montana more than Miley," Lilly said, with a discreet, knowing smirk at her best friend.

Alex sighed and got up from the floor. "Fine, play the CD if you want. But I am getting my laptop from the… downstairs, and after the CD is over I'm going to play some music that _I_ like."

When she'd gone down the metal stairs, Miley snapped her fingers and pointed at Harper. "Oh! You know what you would _love_? I have a copy of Hannah's _brand new_ single 'I Want to Know You' in my bag! It's a special version with David Archuleta." She'd brought it over for the sleepover in case Alex or Harper turned out to be Hannah fans.

"Are you _serious_?" Harper almost screamed in excitement. "They haven't even released it yet! No one has it, but _everyone's_ been talking about it since the announcement that Hannah and David were collaborating. How did you even get it?"

_Yeah, how did '_Miley'_ get it?_ Miley thought when she realized that Harper had a point. "M-My…Dad. You know how he's working on that reality show. Well, Hannah's one of the judges, and he pulled some strings."

"Awesome. You're so lucky," Harper remarked, jealousy in her voice.

"Yeah, well," Miley said with fake modesty as she stood up. "I'll go get it. I think I left my bag under the counter."

She headed for the metal stairs and walked down to the restaurant floor. _It's so weird, yet kind of cool that the Russos live over a restaurant_, Miley thought. _Everything in New York is right on top of each other._

At the base of the stairs, Miley paused. All of the lights were off, and she couldn't see Alex – who'd supposedly gone to get her laptop – anywhere. _Now _that's_ weird, _she thought. Where'd she go? She couldn't have left her _laptop_ in the kitchen, could she?

"Alex?" Miley called. Her bag and the CD momentarily forgotten, she went to check the kitchen. Where else would Alex be?

Miley opened the kitchen door, and from one glance around the small space it was clear that Alex wasn't there. With a shrug, she let the swinging door close and went back to get her bag. Maybe Alex went upstairs the other way? Although Miley couldn't figure out why Alex wouldn't just go up the metal staircase…

Suddenly, there was a noise in the kitchen, and Alex entered the dining area.

"Ah!" Miley exclaimed, and almost jumped a foot in the air. "W-where did you come from? The kitchen was empty!"

Shocked,Alex instead retorted, "W-what are _you_ doing down here?"

"I wanted to get a CD," Miley said. To prove her story, she went under the counter and grabbed her bag. "See?"

Alex didn't say anything for a second, then shrugged. "Oh, okay. Let's go back upstairs. Lilly and Harper are waiting for us."

"Yeah," Miley agreed, then followed Alex upstairs.

About halfway up, Miley exclaimed, "_Hey_!" when she realized that Alex never answered her question. But it was too late, as Alex had run up the stairs with her laptop and joined Lilly and Harper's conversation.

* * *

_**Monday, 8:55 a.m.**_

Lilly discovered that reporting for work at nine a.m. sharp, as she intended to do when she went to bed Sunday night, was no easy accomplishment. Especially when she shared a room with Alex Russo.

"Alex, come on!" Lilly argued, her hands on her hips. "I need to use the mirror!"

Her roommate was her last obstacle that morning. Alex pressed the snooze button one too many times, so Lilly started off running late. Then she'd walked in on someone twice, first Max, then Mr. Russo, when she desperately needed to get some bathroom time to take a shower and dry her hair. Each experience was humiliating, and she'd rather not venture there again to apply her make up. The last thing she wanted was to walk in on Justin.

Oh God, just the thought made her blush.

But Alex was styling her hair, the hair dryer plugged in the wall near the base of the full-length mirror. "I'll be done in a few minutes. Go use the one in the bathroom!"

"_No_!" Lilly yelped in fear. "Not again! I won't!"

"_Okay_," Alex said while she paused to raise an eyebrow at her roommate. "Then go use Justin's or Max's."

Lilly sighed. "Alex! They're probably at work already…like _I_ should be…and I can't just go in there!"

"Why not?" Alex replied with a shrug.

"B-Because!" Lilly sputtered. Shouldn't the reason be obvious? "It's _their_ rooms! I can't just go in there when they're not there! Especially when I don't know them!"

"Oh, please, they won't even know you're there. If it makes you feel any better I suppose you could _ask their permission_," Alex replied, as if the idea was totally ridiculous.

_Yeah, imagine that_, "_asking for permission,"_ Lilly thought. While only there for a week, she was getting a pretty good idea of how Alex treated her brothers…pretty much like they didn't exist, or that their opinions didn't matter. Although, Lilly wasn't too shocked – Miley sometimes treated Jackson the same way, if not worse. "Okay. I'll go see if either one are in their rooms."

She grabbed her make up bag, went into the hallway, and saw that all the doors were closed. Though nervous about the possibility of seeing Max so soon after the bathroom incident, she picked a random one and knocked. "Hello?" she called.

"Lilly?"

Oh, good, it was Justin's room. "Hey Justin," she called through the door. "Alex is hogging her mirror. Can I please use yours?"

There was a rustling noise, and Lilly giggled when she suspected that he was cleaning his room. Drawers slammed, his closet door was closed, and something clanged against metal, presumably his bed frame. He didn't have to clean for her.

Finally, the door opened, and Justin appeared. His breath was heavy and there was sweat on his forehead. "Hi!" he said in an odd voice, then cleared his throat. "I m-mean, uh, good morning. Y-Yes, you can use my mirror…in my room."

"Oh…kay," Lilly replied as she tried not to laugh at how uneasy he was. Then again, she shouldn't judge – her heart was suddenly pounding. "Can I come in?"

He gave her a confused look, then realized he was still blocking the doorway. Embarrassed, he jumped and stepped to the side. "Oh, yes! It's right over there on my closet door…and by 'it' I mean the mirror, but you knew that."

"Yeah. Thanks, it's perfect," Lilly assured him with a grateful smile. She went over to the full length mirror, then looked around for something on which to put her make up.

Justin noticed this and asked, "Can I help you with anything?"

"Oh, it's no big deal…I just need to put my make up down, but I can hold it like, uh, this," Lilly offered, then awkwardly tried to hold it between her slightly bent knees.

Before she could zip the bag open, Justin had brought his computer chair over to her side. "Here, use this! You can use it as a little table."

"Thanks!" Lilly replied. She put down her bag then took out her foundation and brush. She hesitated when Justin stood there, unsure of what to do. "_So_, um, don't you have to get ready for work too?"

Justin gestured to his work-appropriate outfit. "Nope, I'm done. I was actually just about to leave." When he got the hint, his face reddened. "Oh! Yeah, probably shouldn't just watch you do your make up, talk about creepy. I'll, uh…study until you're done!" He picked up an open notebook that was on his desk.

"Study? For what?" Lilly asked while she continued to put on make up. From what Alex told her, he was the 'smart one' in the family. He shouldn't be in summer school.

"F-For what? Oh…" Justin said. There was a long, awkward pause, then his eyes widened. "A s-summer class I'm taking! Yeah! I signed up for a high school class they're giving at NYU. I'll…I'll be there Tuesday and Thursday afternoons."

Again, Lilly could tell something was off, but again she chose to ignore it. "Oh." In the silence that followed, her eyes traveled around the room…and landed on an object plugged into the wall. "Is that a night light?"

"What? No!" Justin quickly assured her as he lunged for the thing, ripped it out of the wall and tossed it under his bed. When he stood up, he explained, if a little too late, "Air freshener. It's an air freshener!"

"Okay, okay, I believe you," Lilly said with a laugh. She quickly finished her mascara and put on some lipstick. "I'm done. I need to put this back in Alex's room and get some earrings, so I'll see you downstairs?"

Justin nodded. "Yeah. See you."

"See you. Thanks for the mirror," Lilly said. As she went out into the hallway, she glanced back and gave him a small smile.

Then she closed the door, and waited for her heart to slow down.

* * *

_**Monday, 3:00 p.m.**_

On the other hand, Alex could care less about arriving at work on time, or even within the right hour. She was only on time – a half hour early, in fact – to the television studio because she wanted to explore (it'd also been an excuse to cut out of her shift at the restaurant). And, well, if she happened to run into Jake Ryan or Chad Dylan Cooper, and they asked her for a date…it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Though she was leaning towards Jake Ryan. He always seemed…nicer, and cooler. And she always liked _Zombie High_ a million times better than cheesy, boring _Mackenzie Falls_. It was almost as bad as that _So Random_ show on the same network, although Alex had to admit she liked that new addition…Samantha or whatever her name was.

Earlier, Alex had stolen a muffin from one of buffet tables set out for the stars, so picked off little pieces and threw them in her mouth as she walked around. They were setting up for individual scenes between each of the judges and their contestants. From what Miley told her, the judges were coaching the contestants for a group, choreographed performance, and giving each contestant one-on-one sessions. This would cover the first televised week of the competition, and two contestants would be let go.

Alex was never one for reality TV. Everyone on there was so stupid that she couldn't take it. Although, she did watch _American idol_, but for the sole purpose of mocking Ryan Seacrest.

Lost in her thoughts, she literally bumped into both Jake _and_ Chad, who were sitting in directors chairs while they waited for their make up to be done.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Alex said, then gave them one of her patented "don't you love me?" smiles. If there was an occasion to flirt, it was around two of the hottest teen celebrities from Hollywood.

In the chair farthest from her, Chad leaned in and asked, "So, what are you doing here…muffin girl?"

Confused, Alex was confused to see that she had some crumbs in one hand and about a third of the muffin in the other. She wiped the crumb hand on her skirt to clean it, then replied, "I'm Alex Russo, Miley's friend."

"Miley?" Chad wondered aloud. "Who's…"

Jake jumped up from his chair and quickly interrupted, "Oh, of course. You know, you're a half hour early."

"Well, that's me, Alex Russo: hard worker," Alex fibbed with another flirtatious smile. She resisted the urge to laugh at her ironic introduction.

"That's good to know," Jake replied. He gave her a friendly grin of his own. And held out his hand for her to shake. "It's nice to meet you, Alex."

_He's so cute!_ Alex thought as she shook his hand. "It's nice to work for you, Jake."

Chad stood up and held out his hands. "Whoa, anyone want to catch me up here? Who's this 'Miley' chick?"

"Don't you know her? She's Hannah Montana's assistant," Alex replied, bewildered. Chad _must_ have seen Miley around set, right?

"What assistant? Hannah didn't mention anything," Chad replied.

All of a sudden, Jake let out a loud chuckle. "I guess you're not in the loop, then. _Everybody's_ known that Hannah was looking for an assistant."

"Yeah, even me, and I just started here!" Alex joined in. She didn't know what was going on, but she loved the high five she shared with Jake after her comment.

"Anyway, since you're here, can you do something for me?" Jake asked her.

He was looking right at her, and for a second she thought her knees would buckle. "S-sure, Jake," Alex replied.

The moment was broken when he reminded her that he was her boss. "Can you run up to Jamba Juice and get us some smoothies?" He paused, then glanced up to look at someone behind her. "Hey, you want a smoothie?"

Mikayla turned around, then walked up to meet the group. "Yeah! I want a Banana Berry with an antioxidant boost." She paused and glanced at Alex. "Who are you?"

"This is my new assistant, Alex. Alex, you may or may not know that this is Mikayla," Jake introduced.

"Of course she knows who I am," Mikayla scoffed. "Who doesn't?"

Alex laughed. She always did like Mikayla's music, and she heard of the singer's attitude, which made Alex even more of a fan. "Of course I have, I totally love your music. It's great to meet you."

"Yeah. So, like I said, Banana Berry with an antioxidant boost. Shouldn't you be writing this down?" Mikayla replied.

"Oh, right," Alex agreed. She stole a note pad and pen from a nearby table and began writing. "So, one Banana Berry…" She kept writing while Jake and Chad gave her their smoothie orders, each one with some sort of boost or energy shot added. At least it wouldn't matter if she messed the additions up, since she doubted either of the stars would actually be able to tell.

When she was finished, Alex said, "Okay, I've got it all down and will be back soon."

Alex turned to go, but Chad remarked, "Wait a minute. You, stand next to her."

"What?" Mikayla and Alex retorted in unison.

"Okay, dude, don't they look exactly alike?" Chad remarked to Jake, as if the girls weren't even there.

Mikayla scoffed. "As if. I'm a celebrity. I have a very unique look."

"You know, I see what you mean," Jake replied and ignored Mikayla's comment. "They could be twins."

The girls stared at each other. While Mikayla was clearly horrified at the thought of looking like an average fan, Alex couldn't help but say, "If it's any consolation, people tell me that all the time, but personally I don't see it."

Upset Mikayla stomped off, as Alex shrugged and left to go on her first errand.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_**Monday, 7:45 p.m.**_

After working with the Russos, Lilly had expected regular down time with them to feel weird. The whole day she'd been treated like an average employee. Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Russo were still as nice as they usually were, but they kept up a constant stream of instructions for her training. Alex had pretty much steered clear of Lilly until she went off to work at the studio, in order to avoid being assigned more work by her parents. So Lilly was left on her own with her new bosses, who fortunately seemed okay with her amateur waitress skills. Apparently, they'd had a bad experience the last time they hired one of Alex's friends.

Though the considerate parents wouldn't say who it was, Lilly suspected it was Harper.

So, when the shop closed and the family and Lilly retreated to the loft, she feared that the bond they'd already formed would be changed by her first shift. But she found that Mr. and Mrs. Russo went back to treating her like a guest and seemed to forget she was their new employee.

Since Alex only got home fifteen minutes ago, Lilly offered to help with getting dinner on the table while her friend when upstairs to change out of her work clothes. "Would you like me to set the table, Mrs. Russo?" Mr. Russo was on the couch with Justin and Max, the New York Met versus Yankee game on the television.

"That's so sweet of you to offer, thank you," Mrs. Russo agreed. The chicken cutlets almost done cooking, she left the stove to show Lilly where the dishes were. Much to the teen's surprise, the woman embraced her in a grateful hug. "It's so nice to have you around, Lilly. _No one_ ever offers to do _anything_ around here."

Though uneasy, Lilly returned the hug and quickly broke apart. "Well, I mean, it's the least I can do since you're letting me stay here."

"Trust me, the pleasure's all mine. It's so unusual to have a nice, _normal_ person around this house," Theresa assured her.

Lilly hesitated. The way Mrs. Russo said "normal" seemed odd to her, as if there was more than the usual craziness of a five-person family to deal with. Though it was probably nothing, Lilly couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean 'normal'?"

"Oh, uh…" Theresa replied. She seemed to be slightly panicked. "Well, you know…everyone thinks their own family is crazier than usual. If you'll excuse me, I think the chicken is done." Then she rushed over to where the chicken cutlets were frying on the stove.

About five minutes later, the game went to commercial, Mr. Russo and Max approached the counter. "Mom, can we _please_ eat dinner in the living room? It's only the bottom of the fifth! '

"Max! The plan was to work it into conversation, and then _suggest_ it!" Jerry chided.

"I'm sorry," Max retorted, in a tone that suggested he wasn't sorry at all. "But the bases are loaded, and David Wright's up next! If Pettitte doesn't walk him, it could be a home run! You expect me to miss that for chicken cutlets?"

Over by the table, Lilly chuckled as she set down the last place setting. It was strange, but nice to be in a house with so many people. At home, it was just her and her mother.

She came back to the counter just in time for Theresa's negative response. "Jerry, we will not eat a meal on the couch when we have a guest over. Who was just nice enough to set the table! It's rude!"

"I don't mind, really. I like baseball," Lilly said.

Max smiled and pointed at Lilly. "See? She likes baseball! The only one who doesn't is Alex, and she's here all the time!"

"_Fine_," Theresa relented with an aggravated sigh. "Then Jerry, you and Max go get the plates and silverware from the table. Lilly, would you go get Justin, please?"

"Sure Mrs. Russo," Lilly replied. As she went over to the couch and leaned on the arm, she mused for a moment that this was the second time that day someone had suggested she go talk to Justin. Weird. "Your mom said to come get dinner, Justin."

Startled, he whirled around to find her just about two feet away from him. "Oh! Didn't, uh, see you there."

"Sorry," Lilly said with a laugh. They ended up staring at each other, and Lilly became serious when she felt…_something_ between them. Nothing like a clichéd jolt of romantic energy or anything like that, of course. But definite tension, and she could tell he was aware of it as well.

She shook her head to break it. He did too, and they looked to the TV for a diversion. "S-so, uh, who's winning?" she asked.

"Yankees," Justin answered. He didn't seem happy or sad about that. It was clear that he wasn't into the sport. "My dad and Max are big Met fans. I like baseball, but sports aren't really my thing…I mean…are you a sports fan?"

"Yeah, but I'm more into surfing and skateboarding," Lilly told him. She couldn't help but be a little smug, since she knew those sports were considered to be cool.

As expected, Justin was impressed. "Whoa, I didn't know you were so…sporty. Surfing, that must be awesome, especially in California." He then leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms. "You know, I was on the baseball team for a while."

"Really? Why'd you quit?" Lilly asked out of genuine curiosity. The information came as a surprise, since Justin didn't seem at all like the jock type.

Her assessment of his character was confirmed when Max walked over, a plate full of chicken and mashed potatoes in his hands, and a mouthful of food already in his mouth. "Quit? He was kicked off the team because he stunk up the field," Max informed her.

"I was not kicked off the team!" Justin objected, then lowered his head in embarrassment. "They let me quit first," he mumbled.

Then Mr. Russo came over and held his own plate of food. "You two better get over there before your food gets cold."

"Oh, right. Let's go, Justin," Lilly said. She got off the couch with Justin right behind her, and the two got their food. When Alex came down, and Mrs. Russo joined them, Lilly sank in to the last empty spot on the couch to eat and watch sports with her new temporary family.

* * *

_**Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.**_

"Don't be so nervous, Carly, you'll be great!" Miley, as Hannah, assured the brunette teenager. She gave the excited, bubbly, _annoying_ girl two thumbs up before she turned and bolted for the hallway that led to the dressing rooms.

Taping both for Hannah and Jake happened to end early that day, so Alex had suggested that Miley go back to the loft with her and Lilly to hang out. That was a problem for two reasons. One, Hannah usually took a limo to and from the studio. Two, she needed time to change back to Miley, but she could already see that Alex was saying good-bye to Jake, whose last scene only ended maybe ten minutes before Hannah's.

The second problem was the most pressing at the moment. The first wasn't even a major problem, really, except for the fact that Hannah usually saw Jake, Chad and Mikayla at the valet in the parking lot. Oh well. She could always say she had to wait for her dad for some made up reason.

As she ran around the corner, she began to take off things like her jacket and her earrings. She even had to change her whole outfit since Alex had _just_ seen Hannah in the same exact one.

Miley burst into Hannah's dressing room to find Lilly in the process of changing out of her Lola costume. She'd spent some of the afternoon there after her shift at the restaurant, but unfortunately had to constantly alternate between Lilly and Lola since Alex kept looking for Lilly. As far as Miley knew, this was Lilly's fourth quick change.

"Maybe..." Lilly sputtered as she pulled on the shirt that "Lilly" had been wearing all day. "Superman had the right idea."

While she threw her Hannah wig to the side and let down her hair, Miley laughed. She'd envied Superman's wardrobe techniques every time she watched the movies with her father. "Good idea. We should just keep an extra outfit on under our costumes at all times. Problem solved." She kicked off her boots, then considered the theory. "Well, maybe not. We'd look bulky if we were wearing the second outfit."

"Who cares? I can't take two months of this! When I visit you or Alex on set, I'm going to be either Lola or Lilly, not both. This is nuts," she complained as she fixed her hair in a mirror. Even though Lilly could hang out with Alex or Miley as herself, she needed to be Lola to have a conversation with Hannah.

Miley checked herself in the mirror and decided that her jeans and t-shirt were average enough that they could pass for her own clothes, as long as she accessorized with a jacket and different shoes. Some nondescript sneakers were nearby, so she grabbed them and began to put them on. "You know…" Miley said. "'Miley' is 'Hannah's' assistant. You could just tell Alex that I introduced you, and you and Hannah are friends now."

"That might work," Lilly agreed. "I mean, the main reason I have the Lola is disguise is so that I, Lilly, don't get caught in tabloid pictures with Hannah, and no one we know connects you to her."

"But you still might be in tabloid pictures. I cannot _tell_ you how many crew members have taken pictures of me with their cell phones," Miley replied. When on the internet, she'd already seen tons of Hannah pictures from the reality show set.

Fully changed from Lola by then, Lilly shrugged and walked over to sit down near Miley. "Who cares? It's not like it'd be pictures of me randomly hanging out with Hannah. I'll just use the excuse I've been telling the Russos – I hung out with you on the set. Oh! Now I can finally tell people I met Hannah Montana!" She jumped up and down with excitement at the thought of her increased popularity.

"Hey, speaking of the Russos…what are we going to do about Alex?" Miley said. She then glanced at the door and briefly wondered what was taking Alex so long. "She told me it was weird that Chad had no idea who I was since he and Hannah are together all the time. I told her it was just Chad being self-absorbed, but…that's one excuse. Maybe getting Alex a job wasn't the best idea."

Lilly tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Ya think?" she retorted.

"I know, I know, you told me, but I just wanted Alex to like me," Miley explained. She was about done with her outfit change too, but grabbed a new pair of earrings just to make sure. "And I definitely think I scored some brownie points. You said so yourself that she was telling you all about how she met Jake, Chad and Mikayla."

"But is that worth her finding out your secret? One too many unexplained incidents, and she could catch on," Lilly warned.

It was true. Alex wasn't oblivious. She could definitely figure it out in two months of being around both Hannah and Miley. "Okay. For now, I'll just have 'Miley' make some appearances around set. At least then people will know who Alex is talking about if she happens to mention me," Miley thought aloud. "But if she gets too close, I'll…I'll talk to Jake about it. Maybe he'll agree to fire her."

"It shouldn't be too hard. From what Justin and Max have said, Alex doesn't work if she can help it," Lilly assured her with a smile. "Jake might fire her before you ask him."

Miley laughed. She was glad that Lilly realized that Alex might have to be fired to protect the Hannah secret. "Thanks for understanding. Now, help me find a necklace that goes with this outfit…"

"Oh, you mean the one with that color…"

"Yeah!"

"And the thing…"

"Yup, that's the one," Miley replied.

They were on the hunt when the door opened and Alex walked in. "Hey! You guys ready to go? She then narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Wait…where's Hannah? She _just_ went down this hallway."

"Oh…uh…she…" Lilly blurted, panicked by the question.

The blonde's response gave Miley time to think of her own. "Oh, she left to talk to Mikayla about something. You know those two, such good friends," Miley fibbed. It took all her willpower not to gag at the mention of actually having a conversation with the annoying pop star. "She said good-bye to us already though, so we can leave."

Miley and Lilly grabbed their purses, and they began to follow Alex into the hallway. "So, where's the subway?" Lilly asked.

"Half a block away," Alex answered. "But stick close to me. There's this smelly guy who will play his tuba badly in your face until you give him money. It's _hilarious_ when he does it to other people, though!"

With forced smiles, Miley and Lilly lied through their teeth in unison, "Can't wait."

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, sorry for the wait!

I had some fun with this chapter. I'm from New York City myself (Queens, though), so when I needed something for Jerry and the boys to watch, I had to pick a Mets vs. Yankees game. Of course, even though they're Mets fans, I'm a Yankees fan...so I had the Yankees winning in the game, lol.

And, as I learned from my friend's brother, there actually is a guy who plays tuba (or some other loud instrument, I forget) badly until you pay him to stop. I tweaked it a little though to make it more annoying - really, he just plays for a subway car.


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